Volume 1

Chemical essays / [Richard Watson].

  • Watson, Richard
Date:
1787-1789
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chemical essays / [Richard Watson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    353/372 (page 335)
    Roger Bacon died at Oxford In 1292. In the printed copies of the works of this renowned Monk, there arc two or three pafTages, from which It may fairly be inferred, that he knew the compofition of gunpow- der ; and a manufcript copy is faid to have been fcen w'herein Jaltpe- ire, fulphur and charcoal are exprefsly mention- * In omnem diflantiam qiiam volumus, pof- fumus artificialitcr componere ignem combu- rentein ex lale petne et aliis, R. Bacon cle Mirab. Potef. Artis et Naturae. Epif. C. VI, —fed tamen falls petr^ Luru n^opo vir Can. titriet fulphuris et fic facies tonitrum et coraf- cationern, li fcias artificium. Id. lb. C, XL it is very probable, that in the firft of thefe palTages, Bacon concealed fulphur and char- coal under the word alih; and that in the lap, having mentioned faltpetre and fulphur, he concealed charcoal and the method of mixing the three ingredients, under the barbarous terms, Luru vopo vir can utriet. t Plott^sJ^at, Hift, of OxfordPtire.